1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to printing in a network environment. More specifically, the present invention relates to controlling the amount of printing a network user may perform within a specified time period.
2. Description of Related Art
In a computer network environment, network users must often share the same printing resources. In this type of environment, large print jobs can cause considerable problems. If several network users are attempting to use the same printer at roughly the same time, a large print job can delay several smaller, subsequent print jobs. This essentially allows one person to disrupt the work of several people, leading to considerable productivity problems for the entire network. If several people are attempting to print large print jobs, the congestion can become even more severe.
In addition to problems of delay and congestion, large print jobs require considerable resources, such as paper and ink/toner. In addition to the direct financial costs for these resources, there are also environmental concerns related to the production of paper waste.
Since many network users do not directly bear the costs of their large print jobs, there is not much of an incentive to control their own use of the printer resources. Many large print jobs, though convenient for the user, may not be necessary for the user's work, and not worth the costs to network productivity as a whole.
Currently, there is no way for a computer network administrator to limit how many pages a network user may print within a specified time period. Therefore, a method for limiting the amount of printing a network user may perform within a specified time period, while allowing exceptions for necessary jobs, would be desirable.